93 Facts About Bruce Springsteen

1.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23,1949 and is an American singer and songwriter.

2.

Bruce Springsteen has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band.

3.

Bruce Springsteen is an originator of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with poetic and socially conscious lyrics that tell a narrative about working-class American life.

4.

Bruce Springsteen then changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run.

5.

Bruce Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love, Human Touch, and Lucky Town.

6.

Bruce Springsteen reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits, then recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad and the EP Blood Brothers.

7.

From 2017 to 2018, and again in 2021, Bruce Springsteen performed the critically acclaimed one-man show Bruce Springsteen on Broadway which saw him perform some of his songs and tell stories from his 2016 autobiography; the album version was released in 2018.

8.

Bruce Springsteen then released the solo album Western Stars, the album Letter to You with the E Street Band, and a solo cover album Only the Strong Survive.

9.

Bruce Springsteen has earned numerous awards, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award.

10.

Bruce Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016, and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Joe Biden in 2023.

11.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey, on September 23,1949.

12.

Bruce Springsteen worked as a legal secretary and was the main breadwinner in the family.

13.

Bruce Springsteen's father had mental health issues throughout his life, which worsened in his later years.

14.

Bruce Springsteen's Italian maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense and emigrated through Ellis Island.

15.

Bruce Springsteen eventually became a lawyer and impressed the young Springsteen as being "larger than life".

16.

Bruce Springsteen attended the St Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold, where he was at odds with the nuns and rebelled against the strictures imposed upon him, though some of his later music reflected a Catholic ethos and included Irish-Catholic hymns with a rock music twist.

17.

Bruce Springsteen grew up hearing fellow New Jersey singer Frank Sinatra on the radio, and became interested in being a musician at the age of seven when he saw Elvis Presley's performances on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and 1957.

18.

In ninth grade, Bruce Springsteen began attending the public Freehold High School, but did not fit in there either.

19.

Bruce Springsteen graduated in 1967, but felt so alienated that he skipped his graduation ceremony.

20.

Bruce Springsteen briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out.

21.

In 1964, Bruce Springsteen saw the Beatles' televised appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

22.

From 1969 through early 1971, Bruce Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson.

23.

Bruce Springsteen brought his skills to the attention of several people who went on to prove influential to his career development, including new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, who in turn brought him to the attention of Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond.

24.

Bruce Springsteen acquired the nickname "The Boss" during this period, since he took on the task of collecting his band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates.

25.

Bruce Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by Clive Davis after having piqued the interest of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier.

26.

Bruce Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope with the E Street Band providing a less folksy, more rhythm and blues vibe, and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life.

27.

Bruce Springsteen helped Springsteen perfect "Born to Run" by adding its memorable guitar line.

28.

Bruce Springsteen was going to scrap half of it, he told Appel, and substitute live recordings for upcoming show dates at The Bottom Line in New York City, a venue where he often played.

29.

In October 1975, Bruce Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Newsweek and Time in the same week.

30.

Bruce Springsteen continued to focus on working class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit top ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart".

31.

The video for the song showed a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Bruce Springsteen, which helped start the actress's career.

32.

Bruce Springsteen played on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985.

33.

Bruce Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love album in 1987.

34.

In 1992, after risking fan accusations of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles and working with session musicians, Bruce Springsteen released two albums at once: Human Touch and Lucky Town.

35.

Bruce Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:.

36.

Bruce Springsteen won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia.

37.

Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by Bono, a favor he returned in 2005.

38.

In 2002, Bruce Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien.

39.

The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Bruce Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years.

40.

Bruce Springsteen played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

41.

At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Bruce Springsteen performed the Clash's "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer.

42.

Bruce Springsteen gave solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally at which he debuted the song "Working on a Dream" in a duet with Scialfa.

43.

Bruce Springsteen was the musical opener for the Obama Inaugural Celebration on January 18,2009, which was attended by over 400,000 people.

44.

On January 11,2009, Bruce Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Darren Aronofsky film by the same name.

45.

Bruce Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1,2009, agreeing to perform after having declined on prior occasions.

46.

Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream album, dedicated to the memory of Danny Federici, was released in late January 2009.

47.

Bruce Springsteen received the Kennedy Center Honors on December 6,2009.

48.

President Obama gave a speech in which he asserted that Bruce Springsteen had incorporated the lives of regular Americans into his expansive palette of songs.

49.

Obama added that Bruce Springsteen's concerts were not just rock-and-roll concerts, but "communions".

50.

The 2000s ended with Bruce Springsteen named one of eight Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine and with Bruce Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.

51.

On July 31,2012, in Helsinki, Finland, Bruce Springsteen performed his longest concert ever at 4 hours and 6 minutes and 33 songs.

52.

Bruce Springsteen campaigned for President Barack Obama's re-election in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin.

53.

Bruce Springsteen released his eighteenth studio album, High Hopes, on January 14,2014.

54.

The first single and video were of a newly recorded version of the song "High Hopes", which Bruce Springsteen had previously recorded in 1995.

55.

Bruce Springsteen made his acting debut in the final episode of season three of Van Zandt's show Lilyhammer, which was named "Loose Ends" after a Bruce Springsteen song on the Tracks album.

56.

On September 23,2016, Chapter and Verse, a compilation from throughout Bruce Springsteen's career dating back to 1966, was released.

57.

On September 7,2016, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bruce Springsteen performed for 4 hours and 4 minutes.

58.

On November 22,2016, Bruce Springsteen was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by Barack Obama.

59.

Bruce Springsteen co-directed the film along with longtime collaborator Thom Zimny.

60.

On May 29,2020, Bruce Springsteen appeared remotely during a livestream, no-audience concert by the Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Park in Boston.

61.

Bruce Springsteen performed the Dropkick Murphys song "Rose Tattoo" and his song "American Land", sharing co-vocals with Ken Casey on both songs.

62.

On September 10,2020, Bruce Springsteen released the single "Letter to You".

63.

On November 16,2020, Bruce Springsteen was featured as a guest singer for Bleachers' newest single, "Chinatown", for their 3rd studio album Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night.

64.

On February 22,2021, it was announced that Bruce Springsteen was releasing an eight-part podcast on Spotify titled Renegades: Born in the USA that would feature himself in conversation with Barack Obama discussing a wide range of topics including family, race, marriage, fatherhood, and the state of the US.

65.

On May 16,2021, John Mellencamp announced that Bruce Springsteen would appear on his next album.

66.

On June 7,2021, Bruce Springsteen announced that his Bruce Springsteen on Broadway shows would return for a limited run at Jujamcyn's St James Theatre beginning on June 26,2021.

67.

On September 11,2021, Bruce Springsteen performed "I'll See You in My Dreams" in tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks.

68.

On December 13,2021, Bruce Springsteen gave a surprise four song performance at the John Henry's Friends benefit concert for children diagnosed with Autism where he was joined by Steve Earle and the Dukes as his backing band.

69.

On September 29,2022, Bruce Springsteen announced that his twenty-first studio album, Only the Strong Survive, would be released on November 11,2022.

70.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Bruce Springsteen has been called a "rock 'n' roll poet" who "[radiates] working-class authenticity".

71.

Bruce Springsteen's themes include social and political commentary and are rooted in the struggles faced by his own family of origin.

72.

Bruce Springsteen used it to lyricize "America's slide from industrial-era swagger into service-economy anomie".

73.

Concert goers are often confused by the fact that Bruce Springsteen appears to be booed by his fans when he appears on stage.

74.

Bruce Springsteen dated actress Joyce Hyser for four years in the early 1980s.

75.

Bruce Springsteen liked her voice, and after the performance he introduced himself to her.

76.

Early in 1984 Bruce Springsteen asked Scialfa to join the E Street Band for the upcoming Born in the USA Tour.

77.

Opposites in background, the two had an age difference, and Bruce Springsteen's traveling took its toll on their relationship.

78.

The Tunnel of Love Express Tour began in late February 1988 and Bruce Springsteen convinced Scialfa to rejoin the tour.

79.

Bruce Springsteen expressed reluctance at first because she wanted to start recording her first solo album, but when he told her the tour would be short, she agreed to postpone her own solo record and join the tour.

80.

Phillips and Bruce Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988, but the separation was not made public.

81.

Bruce Springsteen received press criticism for the apparent haste in which he and Scialfa started their relationship.

82.

Bruce Springsteen made her show-jumping debut with the Team USA in August 2014.

83.

Bruce Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, announcing his endorsement in April 2008.

84.

Bruce Springsteen appeared at several rallies in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008.

85.

At an Ohio rally, Bruce Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home".

86.

Bruce Springsteen is an activist for LGBT rights and has spoken out many times as a strong supporter of gay marriage.

87.

Bruce Springsteen was a staunch critic of Donald Trump throughout his presidency.

88.

Bruce Springsteen has developed a reputation for energetic and long-lasting live performances.

89.

Bruce Springsteen has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award.

90.

Bruce Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016.

91.

In May 2021, Bruce Springsteen became the eighth recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, a prize that honors an artist who speaks out for social justice and carries on the spirit of the folk singer.

92.

In March 2023, Bruce Springsteen was awarded the 2021 National Medal of Arts from President Joe Biden at the White House.

93.

Bruce Springsteen was supposed to receive the award in 2021 but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the ceremonies.